f2m;the boy within

Jul 02, 2011 Heidi marked it as owned-but-unread

Shelves: aus-women-list

OMG, Hazel Edwards is the author of "There's a Hippopotamus on my roof eating cake"? That's an absolute classic!

Feb 17, 2010 Steph Bowe rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a fantastic, groundbreaking novel - I think the fact that one of the writers is trans himself adds to the authenticity of the novel and the issue of gender transitioning was dealt with honestly. Hopefully this is a novel that will both entertain and educate teenaged readers.

The elements of Skye/Finn's life in the novel outside of his gender transition - the punk music, zines, blogs - all added greatly to the novel. His situation in the novel - having finished school but not yet employed...more

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May 16, 2013 Gem Dean rated it 5 of 5 stars

Skye is an 18-year-old girl. She plays in an all-girl punk band. She has a loving family. She has friends. She also has a major problem: deep down inside, she knows that she’s actually a boy. f2m: the boy within is the story of how Skye becomes Finn — of how he deals with the transition; of how he tells his family and friends. It is a coming-of-age story about identity.

In many ways this book is a bit of an “Everything you wanted to know about gender transition but were afraid to ask” manual. It...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Ada Cicada rated it 3 of 5 stars

From footscray library!
This is a YA fiction about a young trans guy.
It's set in Melbourne actually, about five years ago published.
It felt very nostalgic then I realised that because Skye/Finn talked a lot about stuff I was interested in at that age and lots of conversation I had around 18 in Melbourne.
There's a lot about patterns in families, which I quite like.
Overall I liked it, although I think there is some unneccessary 'trans guys have it sooooo much harder than trans women' points made fr...more

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Nov 17, 2011 Dom rated it 5 of 5 stars

Eighteen-year-old Skye is a member of an all-girl punk rock band. Skye has never felt like a girl. Inside, (s) he is Finn, a boy. Making the decision to let Finn be outside as well as in involves a lot of work. How do you tell your family and friends and the members of your feminist rock band that you’re going to undergo female-to-male treatment and surgery? Fortunately, there’s a family precedent: great-uncle Albert … or is that great-aunt Alberta?

Skye/Finn could easily be a victim, but refuses...more Eighteen-year-old Skye is a member of an all-girl punk rock band. Skye has never felt like a girl. Inside, (s) he is Finn, a boy. Making the decision to let Finn be outside as well as in involves a lot of work. How do you tell your family and friends and the members of your feminist rock band that you’re going to undergo female-to-male treatment and surgery? Fortunately, there’s a family precedent: great-uncle Albert … or is that great-aunt Alberta?

Skye/Finn could easily be a victim, but refuses. It isn’t going to be easy for anyone, but (s)he decides, finally, that family, friends and rock band will just have to live with it. And they do.

The book goes into enormous detail about the procedures involved in what is known as FTM. It’s a lot less common than the other way around – male to female – although it has been in the news in the last couple of years, when a man who had kept his female “equipment” had a baby because his wife couldn’t. I knew a female-to-male myself. Unlike Skye, "Jan" became “David” in her/his forties. Nobody, but nobody dared to call Jan a woman, even when she was! And David’s family and friends accepted it as Finn’s family do in the novel. At his funeral, the nephews and nieces referred to "Uncle David", even when he was no longer there to get upset.

The novel also explores the punk rock sub-culture, which is interesting in its own right.

Ford Street Publishing has become known for taking on controversial subjects. It probably needs an author as well-known and respected as Hazel Edwards to get away with this one. Ryan Kennedy, her co-author, is himself an FTM, so knows what he is talking about.

Perhaps an afterword with a URL or organization, if any, within Australia might have helped, so that those to whom the book applies don’t have to do all the web searches that Skye/Finn did in the course of the novel.

It’s well-written and answers a lot of questions. There are some likable characters in it and some nice touches of humour. There’s even the whimsical presentation of a couple who are a female-to-male and a male-to-female. Who are, incidentally, managing just fine. Finn doesn’t like the FTM, Rodney, but hey, he doesn’t have to.

It will certainly appeal to those teenagers who are asking themselves questions about their own gender identities.

Whether or not it will have appeal for ordinary teenagers I am not sure. I suspect they will be uncomfortable with it, though this doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be out there. Will kids who say, “That is so gay!” about anything negative get enthused about characters who are not actually gay but have gender issues? I won’t know until I have put this in my library and seen how the students react. Watch this space.

SUE BURSZTYNSKI
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Aug 19, 2011 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Had to read this for children's lit, for the week on sexuality (which, incidentally, contained only books about gay, lesbian or transgender sexuality - I felt IGNORED!) I skimmed through the bits about Skye/Finn's family life and punk band, which seemed a bit boring and half-hearted because (I suspect) they were only added to flesh this out and make it a novel rather than an account of someone's transition from female to male. But I found the transition stuff totally fascinating. It seemed reall...more

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Nov 09, 2010 Stuart Bramhall rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

f2m: The Boy Within is a sensitive, compelling fictional account of an 18 year old female-to-male transgender teenager and the emotional, social and physical challenges he faces in confronting transition. The writing style, which is extremely engaging, makes you inclined to keep reading once you start. I was especially impressed by the way it balances both the inner dialogue and lingo of turbulent late adolescence.

What I liked best about the novel was the authors’ skill in portraying the subjec...more f2m: The Boy Within is a sensitive, compelling fictional account of an 18 year old female-to-male transgender teenager and the emotional, social and physical challenges he faces in confronting transition. The writing style, which is extremely engaging, makes you inclined to keep reading once you start. I was especially impressed by the way it balances both the inner dialogue and lingo of turbulent late adolescence.

What I liked best about the novel was the authors’ skill in portraying the subject as a multifaceted human being – a talented poet, composer and musician with clear political ideals and a distinct identity that is totally separate from social expectations that he identify with a specific gender role. In fact, it’s almost as if he’s caught in a time warp: he feels the normal drive of a late adolescent to pursue creative and career goals – yet owing to social stigma, he is unable to fully engage in either until he can physically conform to his self-identified gender. The main character is also quite unique in the closeness he feels towards his family and his extreme conscientiousness regarding family responsibilities.

I can see how this could be a very comforting guide for both teenagers and adults confronting a variety of gender identity issues – as well as their families. The authors’ cover all the bases involved in early transition – working through both positive and negative reactions of friends, family and employers; dealing with stigma and bullying; finding on-line and real-life support from other FTMs; making appropriate use of counselling; the medical and psychiatric assessments required to start hormone replacement and to get a surgery referral; and the physical and emotional side effects of starting hormones.

Most important of all, however, is the emphasis that there isn’t just one acceptable way to transition from female to male. That the process involves a number of choice points, which is one reason why counseling is so helpful. Some FTMs opt not to take hormones. Some opt for breast removal surgery only and forgo genital reconstruction.

I sense the realistic, multifaceted characters – as well as the dramatic tension leading to the subject’s decision to come out to various family members and their individual struggles to accept his decision – will also be quite appealing to mainstream readers. As a well-told story exploring one particular dimension of the human condition.
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May 19, 2011 Jay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: australian-authors, australian-setting-and-characters, books-i-own, my-lesbianism-let-me-show-you-it, ya

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 14, 2012 Ashley rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: queer-content, young-adults

Oy, it took me such a long time to write a review for this book. It was a pretty painful read because it was so dull, and I didn't want to pick it up again to write my review. Still, I'm glad a transitioning story exists at my public library, and I think a lot of the trials Finn faces in the book are accurate.

A lot of stuff in the book isn't realistic, though, particularly the amount of time Finn takes to go through all of the steps of transitioning. In the beginning, he's like, "I'm a dude. I'm...more Oy, it took me such a long time to write a review for this book. It was a pretty painful read because it was so dull, and I didn't want to pick it up again to write my review. Still, I'm glad a transitioning story exists at my public library, and I think a lot of the trials Finn faces in the book are accurate.

A lot of stuff in the book isn't realistic, though, particularly the amount of time Finn takes to go through all of the steps of transitioning. In the beginning, he's like, "I'm a dude. I'm not going to get into why I am completely 100% sure about being a dude and taking hormones and getting surgery done, but even though I am zero engaged with any trans issues and know absolutely nothing about transitioning I think I'll undergo irreversible body changes by the end of next month." He goes through the process as quickly as a 7-year-old goes through a connect-the-dots page in an activity book, and transforms from closeted life as a girl to public life as a flat-chested, deep-voiced guy in a matter of months, an unattainable feat for trans people in the real world due to psychiatric requirements the book fails to mention. Also, how lucky that Finn has magically saved money he never knew about! Good thing his older brother also seems to have never known about his own share of magically saved money and is super invested in Finn getting a mastectomy. Easy peasy, trans folks! I don't know why you campaign so hard to get this stuff covered by your healthcare providers! :(

Also, while not all transitioning stories have to get into politics and personal reasons for transitioning, I was kind of scared for Finn because he didn't seem to have done any research or even taken his counseling seriously lest it get in the way of him achieving maleness. I thought that when he met a trans guy who wasn't into changing his body he would at least elaborate on why that option wasn't for him, but instead he just villified the other trans guy and wrote him off as a know-it-all! Also, even if you're not going to get into the gender politics of transitioning, it's still problematic when Finn's brother tells him he would feel more comfortable with Finn once he had chest surgery because then they could be bros instead of Finn being some girl he couldn’t talk to because boobs and stuff. WTF?

Read my more librarianish review at http://respectablecollection.wordpress.com/2012/04/14/f2m/.(less)

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Oct 29, 2011 Banditnator rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was the first book I have read that has dealt with the subject matter. After reading the first few pages I was excited as the protagonist and I shared a lot in common. But the excitement stopped there. The writing was mediocre, as was the 'fill in' story that seemed awkward misplaced. On the up side, I loved the portions that dealt with the actual transitioning process, it felt real and very accurate. One of the down sides is how unlikable the characters are, and how blatantly stupid Finn i...more

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Jul 07, 2012 Jamila Bost rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 23, 2011 Boy is the android rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: queer, ftm, gender, ya, ebook

The prose starts out stilted, and the characters seem at first like cardboard cut-outs; both improve over the course of the book. There are also a number of punctuation and typographical errors which could have been avoided with a better proofing job. My initial impression was that it was an okay YA book -- not great, but not bad, either, and worth reading for anyone looking for a (YA) novel with an FTM protagonist. The further I got, the more I liked it, and by the end, I'd switched from feelin...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Paul Collins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Eighteen-year-old Skye is a member of an all-girl punk rock band. Skye has never felt like a girl. Inside, (s) he is Finn, a boy. Making the decision to let Finn be outside as well as in involves a lot of work. How do you tell your family and friends and the members of your feminist rock band that you’re going to undergo female-to-male treatment and surgery? Fortunately, there’s a family precedent: great-uncle Albert … or is that great-aunt Alberta?

Skye/Finn could easily be a victim, but refuses...more Eighteen-year-old Skye is a member of an all-girl punk rock band. Skye has never felt like a girl. Inside, (s) he is Finn, a boy. Making the decision to let Finn be outside as well as in involves a lot of work. How do you tell your family and friends and the members of your feminist rock band that you’re going to undergo female-to-male treatment and surgery? Fortunately, there’s a family precedent: great-uncle Albert … or is that great-aunt Alberta?

Skye/Finn could easily be a victim, but refuses. It isn’t going to be easy for anyone, but (s)he decides, finally, that family, friends and rock band will just have to live with it. And they do.

The book goes into enormous detail about the procedures involved in what is known as FTM. It’s a lot less common than the other way around – male to female – although it has been in the news in the last couple of years, when a man who had kept his female “equipment” had a baby because his wife couldn’t. I knew a female-to-male myself. Unlike Skye, "Jan" became “David” in her/his forties. Nobody, but nobody dared to call Jan a woman, even when she was! And David’s family and friends accepted it as Finn’s family do in the novel. At his funeral, the nephews and nieces referred to "Uncle David", even when he was no longer there to get upset.

The novel also explores the punk rock sub-culture, which is interesting in its own right.

Ford Street Publishing has become known for taking on controversial subjects. It probably needs an author as well-known and respected as Hazel Edwards to get away with this one. Ryan Kennedy, her co-author, is himself an FTM, so knows what he is talking about.

Perhaps an afterword with a URL or organization, if any, within Australia might have helped, so that those to whom the book applies don’t have to do all the web searches that Skye/Finn did in the course of the novel.

It’s well-written and answers a lot of questions. There are some likable characters in it and some nice touches of humour. There’s even the whimsical presentation of a couple who are a female-to-male and a male-to-female. Who are, incidentally, managing just fine. Finn doesn’t like the FTM, Rodney, but hey, he doesn’t have to.

It will certainly appeal to those teenagers who are asking themselves questions about their own gender identities.

Whether or not it will have appeal for ordinary teenagers I am not sure. I suspect they will be uncomfortable with it, though this doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be out there. Will kids who say, “That is so gay!” about anything negative get enthused about characters who are not actually gay but have gender issues? I won’t know until I have put this in my library and seen how the students react. Watch this space.

SUE BURSZTYNSKI
(less)

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Jun 29, 2010 Narrelle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Ford Street Publishing is certainly not tying itself down to just one genre for its YA readers. There's been Foz Meadows' "Solace and Grief" (vampires), George Ivanoff's "Gamer's Quest" (fantasy/SF/gaming) and now "f2m - The Boy Within" - a transgender coming of age story.

f2m is the first-person story of Finn - born Skye - who decides, on his 18th birthday, to finally take steps to becoming the male he knows he is, inside the female form he was born with. It's not going to be easy, though. What...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Sarah Sammis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: exwishlist, pc, read-in-2012

f2m by Hazel Edwards and Ryan Kennedy is a YA novel about 18 year old Skye deciding to go with her heart and transition to male. Will Finn be welcomed into the once all-girl band? What will her parents and brother think? Plus, there are family secrets!

The book is a pretty quick and tame read. For young adults who might feel the need to transition (especially those in Australia, as some of the steps are very specific to Australian health care), the book reads like a step by step process, wrapped...more

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Mar 22, 2011 Tara Calaby rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: glbtq-focus, ya-fiction, australian-ya

I wanted to love this. It's so important that books dealing with trans issues are available, especially to a YA market. However, this particular book just didn't do it for me. The characters are annoying neo-"punks" and it's all so EASY. I'm not an expert on transitioning, but it seemed as though Finn was able to proceed with T and surgery at an unrealistic pace.

It'd be a one star review if it weren't for me being so pleased to find a trans book in my local library.

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May 11, 2010 Hazele rated it 5 of 5 stars

Internationally, this is the first YA novel co-written by an author who has transitioned gender.If you Google the full title, there are lots of online guest blogs and reviews. Further details, reviews and a book trailer on the co-authors sites www.hazeledwards.com and www.ryanscottkennedy.com The publishers site www.fordstreetpublishing.com

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Jul 18, 2012 Casey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Read in two days. Hazel is a great author, really captivates the audience and goes into depth about aspects most books would skim over. great read and informational at the same time

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Feb 24, 2011 Jools Xavier rated it 5 of 5 stars

A good book about a f2m journey from womanhood to man hood. I know the book is fiction, but it made me think about my journey in this world. I loved it and own it.

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Apr 28, 2013 June Alexander rated it 5 of 5 stars

Thanks, Hazel, for another great book, on an issue that has been 'hidden under the carpet' for far too long.

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Apr 12, 2013 Jane Connory rated it 5 of 5 stars

Interesting, insightful and tugs on the heart strings. Ignorance is no longer an excuse ...

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Mar 07, 2012 Kara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: queer

YA trans lit, my first. Vanilla, but nice enough.

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Aug 30, 2010 Ryan Kennedy rated it 5 of 5 stars · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

"f2m: The Boy Within will be a boon to any teenager with feelings of gender anguish and will help to promote tolerance of, and indeed empathy with, those who feel trapped in a body of the wrong gender." Papertigers blog.

Read more reviews at http://ryanscottkennedy.com/reviews/

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May 22, 2013 Kate marked it as to-read

May 21, 2013 Joanne marked it as to-read

Shelves: erotica

May 11, 2013 Anna marked it as to-read

May 05, 2013 Notinfrontoftheklingons marked it as to-read

Apr 27, 2013 Angel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Apr 22, 2013 Sandralk rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Apr 27, 2013 Chally added it

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